From the LOGIS news alert subscriptions (ending 14/05):

Business & management:
• A US business school project has developed into testing out a new urban agriculture plan to construct and operate year-round, sustainable growing systems on supermarket rooftops.

Education
• Danish ministers are about to trial a system where senior level college students are allowed to take internet-connected computers into exams.

Environment & sustainability:
• An economist at a conference in Europe has proposed a pan-European strategy of small-scale energy generation and smart energy grids. He believes it would make everyone a partner in energy, would create millions of jobs, and would foster investment that would see the end of the current economic crisis.
• There are three key planks to a successful green cities strategy that will create jobs, stimulate business growth, and make cities more livable, desirable places: building retrofits, green jobs, and public transit enhancements.
• A new US study suggests that converting biomass to electricity rather than ethanol for transportation produces fewer greenhouse gas emissions and offers more “miles per acre.”
• A village in Scotland took their energy future into their own hands by buying into a local wind-turbine development. Money earned from their investment is being put back into making the village houses more energy efficient.

Health & wellbeing:
• US researchers are proposing that it is possible to have warning of a pandemic before the first case has even appeared, by detecting subtle signals in human behaviour.
• Canadian research has discovered that females have a stronger immune system than males.

Law & Government:
• Mayors and representatives from cities all over the world met yesterday at the UN to discuss how better infrastructure planning can help achieve sustainable urban development.
• The controversial French digital legislation similar to NZ’s Section 92, has been re-introduced and passed. The new act creates an agency that will monitor and enforce a “three strikes” approach to illegal downloading.
• The City of Vancouver has released guidelines for passive design for achieving energy efficiency and improved heating comfort through building design. The passive design elements can reduce a building’s energy demand by as much as 50 per cent.
• Mosman City Council in Australia has introduced Twitter as another means of communicating with its citizens. Responses have been mostly good – except for one person who thought it was a bit “creepy” that the council was “following me”.

Science, technology & transport:
• Astro_Mike is the first person to Twitter from space. During training for his space flight, astronaught Mike Massimino has used Twitter to post regular updates about his training.
• UK researchers have published a new estimate for total crude oil extraction, suggesting that more may have been removed than previously thought. Since their findings disagree with earlier calculations, clarification on how much oil reserve is left, is needed.
• Transport for London is beginning a 6-month trial of intelligent speed adaption technology, that aims to reduce road casualties, and help drivers avoid speeding fines.
• Better Place, invited by the Ministry of the Environment in Japan, has officially opened the first solar powered electric vehicle battery switching station in Yokohama.